The Way We Live Now eBook

On the Monday afternoon Melmotte met Lord Nidderdale
in the lobby of the House. ‘Have you seen
Marie lately?’ he said. Nidderdale had been
assured that morning, by his father’s lawyer,
in his father’s presence, that if he married
Miss Melmotte at present he would undoubtedly become
possessed of an income amounting to something over
L5,000 a year. He had intended to get more than
that,—­and was hardly prepared to accept
Marie at such a price; but then there probably would
be more. No doubt there was a difficulty about
Pickering. Melmotte certainly had been raising
money. But this might probably be an affair of
a few weeks. Melmotte had declared that Pickering
should be made over to the young people at the marriage.
His father had recommended him to get...